Staying motivated

Make it a habit

The easiest way to walk more is to make walking a habit. Think of ways to include walking in your daily routine. Examples include:

walking part of your journey to work

walking to the shops

using the stairs instead of the lift

leaving the car behind for short journeys

walking the kids to school

doing a regular walk with a friend

going for a stroll with family or friends after dinner

If you live in a city, Walkit has an interactive walk planner to help you find the best walking route. Each suggested route includes your journey time, calorie burn, step count and carbon saving.

Hikideas uses a tool that can be used for planning both urban and none urban walks.

Listen to music

Walking while listening to music or a podcast can take your mind off the effort. Music can also get you into a rhythm and help you walk faster. You'll be surprised at how fast the time goes when you're walking to your favourite tunes.

Use the Active 10 app

Active 10 allows you to track how much and how fast you've walked. To keep things interesting, it gives you goals to work towards and rewards your progress. Download Active 10 from the App Store and Google Play.

Join a walking group

Ramblers organises group walks for health, leisure and as a means of getting around for people of all ages, backgrounds and levels of fitness. Its website has details of many locally organised walks in towns and cities, as well as the countryside.

The UK's 15 National Parks run free guided walks for the whole family during the holidays.